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24 BULKDISTRIBUTOR Logistics May/June 2016 More capacity at Hoyer Schkopau H amburg logistics company Hoyer has expanded its Kombi Terminal Schkopau (KTSK) in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt region. In a €9 million investment, the terminal has been lengthened by 220m and equipped with a second portal crane. New transhipment points and new storage capacities have also been created. The public terminal with discrimination-free access can process up to 110,000 cargo-handling operations a year. Hoyer commissioned the Schkopau terminal, which is between Leipzig and Halle, in 2005. It ensures rail and road links between the major German seaports and inland ports as well as port of Rotterdam, and handles traffic throughout Europe, especially to the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. As a result of the enlargement, significantly more full-length trains can now be accommodated, and turnaround times shortened, Hoyer says. Ulrich Grätz, director supply chain solutions at Hoyer and managing director of KTSK, commented: “The demand exists in the region, and enquiries from existing and new customers wanting to use the terminal confirmed our decision to carry out the enlargement. The terminal has undergone constant further development since it was commissioned.” During the one-year construction phase, the logistics company lengthened each of the two tracks to 620m and installed a second container portal crane. The transhipment area was enlarged by nearly 2,000 sqm. This enables the turnaround of up to 25,000 more load units a year than in the past. The new crane, weighing 370 tonnes and 26m high, and manufactured by Kranbau Köthen, has a maximum safe working load of 40 tonnes under the spreader, a maximum lift height of 14.9m and a maximum lifting speed of up to 30m a minute with a full load. Hoyer also decided to increase the storage area in Schkopau by 3,500 sqm. Ingo Wiese, director of the Hamburg logistics specialist’s Techlog business unit, said this would enable the firm to meet growing demand by ship owners and haulage contractors for empty container depots to serve the hinterland. The terminal now also offers a repair service for box containers from overseas traffic. Combiwest liquidated F rench combined transported operator Combiwest has gone into liquidation with the loss of 59 jobs. The company founded in 2009 by farmers in Brittany was liquidated on Friday 22 April by the Brest Commercial Court. However, company president Jean-François Jacob expressed anger at what he saw as the “shackles” placed on the operator by state railway company SNCF. “Operating conditions do not allow us to secure the survival of the company,” Jacob was quoted as saying in business newspaper Les Echos. “We do not have in France the conditions to sustain such a structure.” In particular, Jacob claimed Combiwest’s business model was viable but accused SNCF of blocking the allocation of sufficient train paths to allow the private company to make railing containers between Brittany, Lyon and Marseilles profitable. Les Echos reported that SNCF strongly denied this allegation, countering with its own claim that Combiwest had not paid some €6 million in fees to the network operator over the past three years. Founded by regional agricultural co-operative SICA de Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Combiwest, headquartered in Rennes, mainly carried containerised fruit and vegetables from Brittany. However, it also moved tank containers for bulk liquid shippers such as Nantua-based Transports Marmeth. n I ere o ati v no s w o Fl n Wh Hoyer invested €9m in upgrading its Schkopau terminal Fleet savings through better driving U K container haulier Pentalver is said to be s aving more than £50,000 a year by improving driver behaviour across its 107-strong Cannock truck fleet. Following the introduction of a performance improvement programme underpinned by transport software Webfleet, the company has seen fuel efficiency soar from an average of 8.5mpg to 9.6mpg per vehicle. OptiDrive 360, a component of Webfleet, scores drivers on a range of performance indicators from fuel consumption, speeding and idling to driving events, gear shifting and constant speed. Pentalver has incentivised improvement with drivers receiving a quarterly bonus if they hit agreed performance targets. Nick Matthews, Pentalver general manager, said: “Idling time, in particular, has been cut dramatically since we introduced the initiative and we have been able to offer driving training support for those employees that have most needed it.” Pentalver has also integrated Webfleet with container transport management system TOPS, enabling more accurate job planning, scheduling and customer service with full fleet and journey time visibility. 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